Today’s guest is JJ Virgin: premiere voice of scientific reason in the world of nutrition and wellness. JJ has earned an astounding amount of accolades throughout the over 25 years she has spent in the industry and is a straight shooter with a no-nonsense approach. She and Sheri have joined forces to work together and help elevate Sheri’s Health & Wellness pillar, get her on track with the right foods for her body and heal her metabolism and gut microbiome. JJ’s smash hit books The Virgin Diet and Sugar Impact Diet have helped thousands of people regain their health.

JJ herself is in better shape now at age 55 than she was at 25, and she is the pinnacle inspiration that mid-life gives us the opportunity to live even healthier in act 2. She also gives us the same expert advice she has given Sheri on snacking, the real breakdown about starchy and non-starchy carbs, intermittent fasting, food and carb intolerance, weight loss resistance, and connecting the dots between body, mind, and spirit. So many make weight loss and healthy habits out to be a full-time job or something we are fighting with ourselves against when really it is a chance to claim our best selves and live the dream life full of energy and joy. Sheri and Nancy invite you to step bravely on the scale, boil some potatoes, and enjoy the episode.

Takeaways

[5:25] Sheri manifests a true gift in the Health & Wellness universe while at a donor appreciation event: the chance to connect and talk with JJ Virgin, one of the nation’s foremost nutrition and fitness experts, public speaker and media personality. JJ has now joined Sheri’s team as her coach, and Sheri couldn’t be happier, as JJ is the expert amongst experts. The work has begun, and together they have created a joint Google Doc, food journal and workout program targeting what will work best for Sheri’s personal recipe in her Health & Wellness pillar.

[11:30] JJ encourages her clients to be more mindful about their snacking, and the amount of times they are eating per day. Our cultural norm tells us to have three meals per day with snacks in between, but for most that is not the best route for optimal health.

[16:35] Yo-Yo and crash dieting places an enormous amount of stress on our bodies and wreaks havoc on our metabolism. It may seem like a short-term solution, but instead of getting TOFI, thin on the outside and fat on the inside, JJ’s coaching methods are sustainable and create health from the inside out, even for the first time helping people break through their toughest weight loss resistance.

[20:03] JJ noticed a common thread when she worked with people to eliminate their diet of inflammatory foods. Their symptoms eased up, and they saw their energy soar and their waist size shrink. The foods that JJ feels are the ones where intolerance is most common: dairy, gluten, soy, corn, eggs and peanuts, sugar and artificial sweeteners. Eliminating these and then slowly starting to cycle them in helps give people the ideas of which ones cause the most issues, and which are okay to have in a moderate amount. JJ has seen dramatic weight loss when people lower or fully give up these foods.

[29:30] JJ goes on a snack rant and why it’s not all that and a bag of chips. Snacking keeps our blood sugar up, interferes with maintaining a healthy balance of insulin and blocks us from burning stored fat.

[32:57] JJ breaks down the difference between starchy carbs (examples include fruit, grains, potatoes, oatmeal, root vegetables) vs. non starchy carbs (celery, asparagus, salad greens).

[33:45] JJ calls potatoes and green bananas “Nature’s Diet Pill” due to resistant starch. Our bodies resist digesting these things, and in turn raises butyric acid in our large intestine that helps us burn fat and feeds our gut with good bacteria. JJ recommends boiling or roasting the smaller colored potatoes with a little coconut oil and sea salt, and then eating them room temperature or cold.

[34:51] We must delineate between the starchy vegetables such as quinoa and squash, and other gluten-containing foods such as white rice and bread that oftentimes create inflammation and insulin resistance.

[35:39] The ketogenic / low carb diet is definitely all the rage right now, but JJ does not recommend this diet for women in their mid 40’s and beyond. As a woman moves towards menopause. It is vital to take extra special care of thyroid and adrenal health.

[35:53] There is no need to fear carbs once you empower yourself with the knowledge of the right amount of carbs from the right sources. You want your body to make sugar from the foods you are eating (carrots), instead of mainlining sugar right into your system (drinking carrot juice).

[37:19] JJ finds people do better with moving their carb intake to the last meal of the day. Having a healthy carb source as part of your dinner can help you relax and sleep better.

[38:49] There are many benefits to fasting. It causes our body to scavenge up and expel bad cells and helps us digest, rest and reduce inflammation. Fasting is unique for the individual and their preferences and lifestyle. For Sheri, her 12-hour fasting window occurs from after dinner until mid-morning. JJ is a morning eater, so she creates her fasting window from after an early dinner to breakfast.

[43:28] If you have too much of a specific bacteria in the gut, it extracts calories from the foods you eat and uses them as fat storage. JJ is on the cutting edge of the science that links the gut and overall health.

[49:16] JJ is excited for the paradigm shift taking place in the health world now, where it’s up to individuals to take responsibility for their own health. Doctors and experts are important consultants and team members, but we are the leading characters of our own book.

[50:39] Sheri is challenging an absolute and stepping on the scale to weigh herself every day. Every. Day. Research shows that people who weigh themselves every day maintain their weight. If you have been avoiding scales for most of your life it may take some practice, but JJ urges us to take emotion out of it and view it from an objective, almost scientific point of view.  Patience and diligence are important virtues when embarking on a health journey.

[56:26] Our bodies aren’t a bank account, they are a chemistry lab. The first commitment is to come from a place of self-love and desire to be the best version of yourself for you.

[67:08] Sheri will be revealing her newest lab results with the Dream Tribe once they are in.

[67:14] This is Fifty with Sheri and Nancy: The Weekend on Aug 24-26 has an amazing line-up of teachers and tribe-builders who are going to help harness our collective energy and ignite our dreams. Tickets are on sale now at 1440.org/thisisfifty.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Just Like My Child

JJ Virgin

jj.html">JJ’s Bio

Jeremiah Brent

JJ Virgin on Dr. Phil

JJ On Dr. Oz

The Sugar Impact Diet

2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy

Dr. Rachel West

JJ Virgin Twitter

The Virgin Diet Cookbook

Website

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